Book Review – The Lives of Bats: A Natural History

The Lives of Bats is part of Princeton University Press’s series The Lives of the Natural World that has grown to 14 volumes. Technically speaking, it is designed and produced by UniPress Books, which I have described elsewhere as the spiritual successor of Ivy Press and which is similarly known for producing good-looking books. As with the other volumes, this one is chock-a-block with full-colour photos, to the point that you would be hard-pressed to find a single page of plain text. It follows the same formula as other volumes, ending each chapter with a short species gallery that profiles four or five relevant or noteworthy species.

Professor of biology DeeAnn M. Reeder’s research programme encompasses physiology, immunology, disease ecology, behaviour, evolution, and conservation, and bats are often her model organism of choice. She is only all too aware of the dislike and fear that bats instil, especially as reservoir hosts of diseases, so an important focus of this book is to demystify and (if that is even a word) de-demonise bats by giving a factual and up-to-date primer on their biology. After a brief introduction, Reeder picks seven topics—evolution, anatomy, echolocation, diet, thermoregulation, reproduction, and disease—before ending with a chapter on past and present interactions between bats and humans.

If there is a unifying theme to this book, it is how much the biology of bats is shaped by the demands of flight. Anatomical adaptations are the first to come to mind, from the ankle spur (a calcar) that supports the wing membrane between the hind limbs (the uropatagium), to the five extra muscles that control the tautness and curvature of the wing membrane. Reeder’s favourite overlooked adaptation is the hind limbs that are rotated 180°, meaning the soles of the feet face forward and the knees bend backwards compared to other mammals.

The demands of flight extend far beyond anatomy, though. To conserve energy, bats can go into torpor, lowering their metabolic rate and body temperature. This can be as brief as a few hours or be extended for weeks on end, at which point we call it hibernation. Like humans, bats generate their own body heat (endothermy), but unlike us, they can conserve energy by allowing their body temperature to track the environmental temperature (heterothermy) while we maintain a steady body temperature (homeothermy). The need for energy conservation even impacts their reproduction. Bat pups are huge compared to their parents, meaning pregnancy is energetically costly on two fronts: foetal development takes energy, but so does flying around with all that extra mass. To make sure birth coincides with peak food availability, female bats can store sperm (a well-known trait in many organisms) but also slow down or even pause (!) foetal development.

Reeder features many other notable traits, adding an extra layer of information to the basic facts that will be rattling around in most people’s heads. Sure, bats echolocate, but what I did not realise is that some groups emit sound out of their mouth and others out of their nose. The family Pteropodidae, the fruit bats, have lost echolocation (fruit tends not to move), yet some species have secondarily re-evolved it, relying on wing-clapping or tongue-clicking to help them navigate their cave roosts. And where many bats issue a call and then listen out for the echo, some bats do not separate the two in time but in frequency, calling at a different frequency than the echoes return at. This nifty feat of sensory biology allows them to produce sound while simultaneously receiving and interpreting the incoming echoes.

I also came away from this book with a much better appreciation of the family Phyllostomidae. When the University of Chicago Press published a book dedicated to this family in 2020, I was admittedly nonplussed: what is so special about them? The incredible diversity of their diet. This family includes carnivorous bats dining on small reptiles, birds, and mammals. It includes the three species of vampire bat whose sanguivorous habits have become the stuff of legend. More relevant but less appreciated is that, by eating fruit, pollen, and nectar, they are important pollinators, including of many cacti and important crops.

Reeder is at her most strident when it comes to the role of bats in diseases, including COVID-19. Yes, bats harbour viruses and other pathogens that impact public health, but spillovers are a human problem caused by our relentless destruction of wildlife habitat. We should be wary of “the sometimes sensationalistic portrayal of bats, writ large, as hosts of deadly viruses” (p. 250); the same can be said of many other animal groups, including primates, rodents, and birds. Reeder is a proponent of the One Health framework that recognises that you cannot tackle human, animal, and ecosystem health in isolation because they are all interconnected.

Given the format and aim of this series, Reeder only has the space to go so deep on these and other topics. However, as with the book I reviewed previously, this is not just a regurgitation of popular information. You can tell this is written by a specialist in her field who is carefully weighing up how much information to give you and how much to hold back. The resources section recommends some of the many technical books if you want to read deeper, plus a two-page reference section to journal articles, including studies up to 2023 and 2024.

Bats are particularly photogenic, and the editorial team at UniPress Books has scoured several stock photo libraries, as well as the work of numerous individual photographers, credited in the back of the book. There are memorable photos here while a small number of neat infographics are contributed by illustrator Sarah Skeate.

The Lives of Bats continues the series’ successful formula: challenge one or two subject experts to write an accessible introduction that can serve multiple audiences. For novices, this is a great first stop on bats that will give you a well-informed introduction to their unique biology (and equally, it is a book that you can safely gift them). However, the book is also rewarding for biologists who just happen to have studied other organisms but have a hankering for bats. I enjoyed The Lives of Bats more than I thought I would, and by the end, I felt it had subtly enriched my knowledge.

In the Field – Testing the new Apodemus PippyG bat detector

The PippyG is a low-cost, static, passive bat detector made by Apodemus. The construction consists of a Raspberry Pi board with an additional ultrasonic microphone. The unit was designed to open baseline monitoring of bats to landowners, researchers, and the wider public, aiming to be as accessible as possible. Requiring only the device, a micro-SD card, and either a USB-B battery pack or 3 AA batteries. Analysis is easy with the PippyG as recordings are formatted ready for the BTO pipeline, a free online platform for auto-analysis of ultrasonic bat calls, providing species ID, and even behavioural tags for each call (see table below).  

Currently, there is no official waterproofing option. However, this leaves the option for experimentation open. A few makers have very kindly created freely available 3D print designs if you have access to a printer, otherwise, I have heard of people trying various options, from leaving them out as is to using a plastic takeaway box with a microphone-sized hole drilled in.  

Unfortunately, I do not have access to a garden or any land to demo the PippyG; instead, I had to settle for the alleyway, which my flat backs onto. A Good test for urban environments where most of us (and some bat species) spend a large proportion of our time. I opted for a setup using a battery pack and a long USB-B cable, which I attached to the PippyG and used as an anchor to hang out of my window.  

Choosing the settings is simple and easy using the Pipistrelle app available on both the Google Play Store and the App Store.  I decided to test for 2 hours from 22:00 till 12:00, with the trigger setting at 72 (considered low, but I was wary of the rabble emanating from the pub garden next door). Once I decided on the appropriate settings, I held the speaker of my phone to the mic and “chirped”.  

The concept of chirping was a new one to me, but it’s simple and fantastic. Rather than connecting directly to the device using Bluetooth to establish your desired settings, the “chirp” encodes the settings into sound waves that the Pippy G picks up using its built-in mic.  

The device flashed, indicating it was ready and the “chirp” has been successful. Time to hang it out of the window and wait.  

The following day I excitedly transferred the data from the PippyG onto my computer, ready to upload to the BTO pipeline.  

And the results are in…  

One species of bat, A Common Pipistrelle, most likely emerged from my upstairs neighbour’s roof. Looking at the results, it was in a feeding frenzy with 56 echolocation calls recorded in 2 hours. Interestingly, even though the device was set to record at the ultrasonic level, it still picked up a few bird calls, most likely the seagulls that like to occupy the rooftops on either side of the alleyway.  

In the future, I would love to put it to the test with a longer deployment in a less urban environment with the hope of catching more of the 18 bat species the UK has to offer.  

Bat Boxes for New Build Projects

The range of integrated or built-in boxes designed for bats can be overwhelming. For new developments, or renovation projects, you may be searching for bat boxes to incorporate additional habitats into your build, and support species while providing new infrastructure. With an upturn in low impact, wildlife friendly construction, integrated bat boxes are becoming increasingly relevant in the construction sector. Bat boxes are designed to provide an appropriately sized, predator-free space for bats to roost or hibernate. They are often designed to be built-in to the building itself, whether this be roofing or brickwork and are unobtrusive, often hard to spot, and help to provide various species with a permanent roost. 

There are 18 bat species in the UK, all of which use the same areas of buildings to roost in the absence of natural habitats – most commonly cellars, roofs and loose brickwork, among many more.  In general, bat boxes should be placed between 3-6 metres high, in a sunny location with around 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. It is also best to avoid placing these in areas around artificial light. For built-in products, woodcrete (or woodstone, woodconcrete) is preferred due to its durability, longevity and good insulative properties. 

Here we discuss integrated bat boxes, providing an overview of our selection of bat boxes and their benefits. 

A grey long eared bat


Types of Integrated Bat Boxes 

Bat Tiles, Bricks and Panels 

Tiles, bricks and panels provide bats with an access point to a suitable roosting space, whether this be within the roof, ridge tiles or a cavity area behind bricks and panels. They are designed to be incorporated into the build itself during construction or renovation and should be provided with suitable roosting cavities behind the access point, usually in the form of bat boxes or insulation-free cavity space.  

Bat Access Brick (197697) 

Bat Access Brick

  • Made to standard brick size
  • Suitable for new builds or renovation
  • Available in multiple colours to cater to existing structures
  • Requires a cavity chamber

 

 

1FE Schwegler Bat Access Panel (183033) 

Schwegler Bat Access Panel

  • Can be used to conserve existing roosts or create new sites
  • Made with woodcrete to ensure durability and breathability
  • Rot-proof
  • Can be painted or rendered over

 

 

 

Bat Access Tile Set (187127) 

Access bat tile

  • Made to order
  • Provides bats with an entrance to underfelt or open loft
  • Protection from heat extremes
  • Available in five traditional tile colours

 

 

 

Integrated Bat Boxes 

Bat boxes are designed to cater for either crevice and cavity dwelling species through varying complexity or can occasionally be a hybrid design to encourage uptake from both groups. These self-contained roosts are unobtrusive and are typically installed flush to the wall or can be rendered over. Bat boxes can also be designed for hibernation and breeding, providing a well-insulated, larger space to accommodate breeding colonies and larger groups.  

Integrated Eco Bat Box (232521) 

Integrated Eco Bat Box

  • Suitable for crevice or cavity species
  • Weatherproof
  • Long lasting and lightweight
  • Replaces 6 standard bricks
  • Made with recycled plastic

 

 

 

 

Vivara Pro Build-in WoodStone Bat Box (252139) 

Vivara Pro Woodstone Bat Box

  • Can be rendered over
  • Discreet entrance hole
  • Modular design which can be connected in the facade
  • Long lasting, insulative woodstone material

 

 

 

 

 

1WI Schwegler Summer and Winter Bat Box (187994) 

Schwegler Summer and Winter Bat Box

  • Suitable for year-round occupation
  • Suitable for maternity and roosting
  • Woodcrete has good longevity and insulative properties
  • Can be rendered over

 

 

 

 

 

1FR Schwegler Tube (178018) 

1FR Schwegler Bat Tube

  • Woodcrete
  • Suitable for rendering
  • Long lasting and durable
  • Discrete entrance hole
  • Suitable as a summer roost

 

 

 

 

 

Custom Bat Boxes 

Bat boxes typically consist of a solid box made from insulating materials with an internal roosting space. They can be custom faced with a chosen brick type (or existing brick, wood, stonework or rendered finish) to allow for discrete installation and a better blend into the existing facade. 

 

Habibat Bat Box 003 Custom Brick Blended Facing (205039) 

Habibat Custom Brick Bat Box

  • Made to order
  • Blended facing
  • Insulative properties
  • Customisable brick facing and plinth to blend with existing brickwork

 

 

 

Habibat Bat Box 001 – Custom Brick Facing (193477) 

Habibat Bat Box - Custom Brick Facing

  • Made to order
  • Insulative properties
  • Blended facing in brick to match building
  • Unobtrusive design

 

 

 

 

Ibstock Enclosed Bat Box ‘B’ (214595) 

Ibstock Custom Brick Bat Box

  • Made to order
  • Intended as a summer roosting space
  • Available in two sizes and three colours

 

 

 

 

Habibat 3S Bat Box (249968) 

Habibat 3S Custom Brick Bat Box

  • Made to order
  • Available in a variety of facings to suit any existing brick, wood, stonework or aa rendered finish
  • Insulative properties

 

 

 

External Bat Boxes  

An alternative to integrated habitat boxes, externally mounted bat boxes can be attached to trees, fences, or buildings and are typically made of woodstone or woodcrete. These versatile boxes can be designed for summer roosting, hibernation, or maternity roosting, varying in size to accommodate different species. 

2F Schwegler Bat Box (General Purpose) (174814) 

2F Schwegler Bat Box

  • Woodcrete
  • Summer roosting space
  • Removable front panel
  • Long lasting

 

 

 

 

 

Large Multi Chamber WoodStone Bat Box (246918) 

Large Multi Chamber Woodstone Bat Box

  • Woodstone
  • Suitable for maternity and summer roosting
  • Also suitable as a hibernation box in mild winters
  • Long lasting
  • Removable front panel

 

 

 

Elisa Bat Box (259840) 

Elisa Bat Box

  • Wood concrete
  • Long lasting
  • Suitable as a summer roost
  • Curved for a closer fit to trees

 

 

 

 

Vivara Pro WoodStone Bat Box (210820) 

Vivara Pro Woodstone Bat Box

  • WoodStone
  • Suitable as a summer roosting space
  • Long lasting
  • Removable front panel

 

 

 

 

2FE Schwegler Wall-mounted Bat Shelter (Pack of 2) (190558) 

2FE Schwegler wall mounted bat shelter

  • Suitable for summer roosts or for winter hibernation quarters
  • Fixed to external walls
  • Long lasting

 

 

 

For more information on bat boxes and how to choose them, read our Bat Boxes Buyers Guide.


 Our full range of bat boxes can be found here.

If you have any questions about our range or would like some advice on the right product for you then please contact us via email at customer.services@nhbs.com or phone on 01803 865913.